


The Painful Memories of Shattered Glass

by Lunar_Viper



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Ash wants to help, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kukui views Riley as a son, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Professor Sycamore is Ash's dad, Riley has trouble talking to people about his problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 17:08:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21039761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunar_Viper/pseuds/Lunar_Viper
Summary: Riley hated talking about his life before meeting Byron and Roark, it hurt him to even think about it. When Ash's party on becoming Champion goes awry, he's forced to face those memories but he's faced with the though he could ruin things between him and Ash.





	The Painful Memories of Shattered Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Riley is eighteen and Ash is seventeen, there's a year and a half between them and Ash turned seventeen a month before the story.
> 
> Translation notes:
> 
> Solnyshko(Russian) = Little Sun  
Je le jure à Arceus(French) = I swear to Arceus  
Anata no Kishi(Japanese) = My Knight  
Daisuki(Japanese) = I love you(For family)  
Okaasan(Japanese) = Mom  
Salut(French) = Goodbye  
Tsuki ga kirei desu ne(Japanese) = The moon is beautiful  
Maman(French) = Mom  
Papa(French) = Dad  
Anone(Japanese) = I know  
Onegai(Japanese) = Please  
Aishiteru(Japanese) = I love you  
Oyasuminasai(Japanese) = Good night  
Ya tozhe lyublyu vas moye solnyshko(Russian) = I love you too my little sun  
Père(French) = Father  
Kuso(Japanese) = Damnit  
Ya lyublyu vas vsem verdtsem(Russian) = I love you so much  
Ya lyublyu vas(Russian) = I love you  
A plus tard(French) = See you later

Riley was happy to just spend the little time they had with Ash in his embrace. This is one of the few times he can be alone with him and not worry about any chaos that was around them. Ash meant the world to him. He brought him a feeling of joy that he’s never felt and he was one of the few people that made him genuinely happy to be around. He was sitting in the peaceful silence with him as Ash was leaning against him, having fallen asleep. Ash was quick to fall asleep but he didn’t blame him. He just won the Alola league and became the champion so it caused a lot of excitement today. 

Tonight was clear, you could easily watch the sun set without the worry of thick clouds blocking the sky or masking part of its beauty. Alola was also a rather clear region, there was barely any light pollution throughout the islands. The only large scale city was Hau’oli City and even then, it was much clearer than Lumiose City. He grimaced at the thought of the nightmarish city. He lived there for years and never once wished to go back since he left. He still remembers the yelling and the constant shattering glass. He ran away and he was going to stay away for as long as he could, he never wanted to return to his father. He shutters at the thought of his father's reaction if he were to come back home. He noticed how it was starting to get darker and Ash’s parents and friends were holding a party for him in honor of winning the Alola League. That’s why they were there to begin with, his friends had him go keep Ash distracted long enough for them to set up the party.

“Ash, we should get going. I’m sure your friends are waiting for us,” Riley says shaking the boy slightly. Ash started to stir in response and groaned softly.

Ash opened his eyes weakly as he was shaken awake by Riley and Pikachu calling out to him. 

“Hey sleepyhead, we should head back to the others now, I think,” Riley says as he stands up and pulls Ash to his feet.

Ash hums in response, “About time! What could they be doing that they needed us to leave for two hours?”

“You’ll see soon my solnyshko, it’s a surprise,” Riley says smiling at him. He pulls him into a tight hug before walking with him out of the clearing.

“At least you were with me, I’d be lonely if you weren’t,” Ash says sighing. Riley gave him an amused smile and kissed him softly. Ash returned the kiss and grabbed his hand to hold.

** **

Ash was immediately greeted by his parents and friends from each region when he arrived to Kukui’s house. 

“Congratulations, my son,” his father says as him and Delia pull Ash into a tight hug. His Kalosian accent wasn’t as bold but still well defined and noticeable but Ash didn’t mind. 

“Oh Ash! I can’t believe my little baby’s become champion!” Delia says happily. There was a lot of chatter from his friends, from “Congratulations” to “About damn time” he heard it all from them.

“Hey kid, congratulations on winning the league,” Lance says ruffling his hair.

“Uncle Lance!” Ash exclaims, smiling brightly and hugging him, “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Of course I’d come! My nephew just became the champion of Alola!” Lance says. Riley smiles softly at Ash’s child-like excitement towards his uncle. “Now go be with your friends, They’ve been waiting for you the longest.” He pushes Ash towards the group of his friends.

** **

“It’s about damn time you won an official league, it’s been getting painful seeing you barely make it to the top four.” Misty says playfully. The adults were talking among themselves as the teens and young adults celebrated Ash’s accomplishment of becoming champion. Riley stayed close to Ash, not so much for protection but rather comfort. He was tense around Professor Sycamore and even Clemont to an extent. He wouldn’t freely admit it, but he doesn’t like them. He worries that the two will recognize him and the last thing he wanted was to go back to his father.

Ash elbows her in the side, “Hey! At least I made it!” he says pouting slightly.

“I’m kidding, Ash!” Misty says, “I hope you aren’t like this with Riley.” 

“Misty!” Ash yelped.

“Misty, leave him be. Ash did great and he’s been doing his best since the very start,” Brock says.

“Don’t fight you three. Misty was just messing with him  _ even though it was unnecessary _ ,” Augustine says dryly. 

“Sorry, Ash, I really was just messing with you,” Misty says. 

Ash sighed, “It’s fine, Misty. I see where you’re coming from, it did take seven years after all,” Ash says. 

“Now you guys go enjoy yourselves, this is a party after all,” Augustine says. He smiled as the teens went off but his gaze lingered on Riley. The teen looked familiar but he couldn’t figure out why. He also was tense around people like himself and Clemont, making him worry about what could be so wrong. 

“Riley,” Ash says as he grabs the taller teen’s hand, “Is something wrong?”

“Hm? No, I’m fine,” Riley says, only being half right.

“Riley… you look tense and I mean in a way that you get nervous around some people,”

“Ash, I swear I’m fine,” Riley says softly, “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“If you say so, but please tell me if something’s wrong,”

“Of course Ash,” Riley says and pulls him into a tight hug. Ash gladly returned the hug as Riley kisses his head. The group of adults took notice. Lance said something that made Delia laugh and Augustine give him the most disappointed look. He just shook his head as his brother-in-law walked over to the two.

“What’s going on here?” Lance says coming up from behind the two, “And what are  _ you _ doing with my nephew?”

Riley nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden question and how he practically came out of nowhere. “I-I Sir-“

“Don’t be rude, Riley’s never done anything to deserve that,” Ash says glaring slightly at his uncle. 

“It’s fine I swear I’m just messing with you. Would’ve been nice to be told that you two are dating rather than having to see it for myself,” Lance says. 

“It was still uncalled for!” Ash argues

“Je le jure à Arceus, Lance, don’t give them a hard time. They just started not to long ago,” Augustine says frowning at the younger adult, “I know you’re good at it but it’s not necessary.”

“Oh so you  _ do _ know,” Lance says. 

“I’m not going to give them a hard time about dating. I know it’s annoying and they’re old enough to date anyways,” Augustine says. 

“I’m sorry, sir, we should’ve told you when we told his parents,” Riley says, bowing his head slightly. He wasn’t sure if he was upset or not but he didn’t want to face him if he was. 

“You don’t need to apologize, Lance was just being an ass, don’t worry about it too much,” Augustine says, “Delia and I will talk to him, okay?”

“Don’t worry about it dad, we’ll be fine,” Ash says.

“It was still uncalled for,” Augustine frowns. He knew Lance likes messing around but this clearly not a good time, considering Riley seemed to be easily startled. 

“Fine, just don’t hurt him too much,” Ash says. Augustine just pulls the younger adults from the two back to where Delia, Lusamine, Colress, Kukui, and Burnet were. 

“Is he… always like that?”

“No,” Ash sighs, “He just likes to mess with people. It’s annoying though. Are you sure nothing's wrong? You seemed pretty nervous when he came over.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me,” Riley says. 

“You better not be lying,” Ash says, “You always worry about me, let me worry about you for once.”

“I know, I know, but I promise I’m fine,” he says softly, “And I only worry so much because you’re a magnet for trouble.”

Ash gave a small laugh, “Yeah, I guess you’re right there. Now come on, some of the others still have yet to meet you!” Ash pulls him into the larger group of people. 

** **

Who ever decided to use glassware at a party with young children and Pokémon made a huge mistake. The table with glass cups was bumped which caused a few glasses to fall when Togedemaru and Pikachu were horsing around on the floor. Naturally everyone was alert of the sudden broken glass but Riley, he felt suffocated. The sound of shattering glass was never a good sign when growing up. It was a sign he did something wrong in his father’s eyes, a sign he would be yelled at and hurt. He felt a wave of emotions hit him but he had to keep it together, he didn’t want to disrupt the others. He didn’t want to see them mad at him. 

“Pikachu!” Ash yelps as he runs over to grab the Electric Mouse and take him away from the glass shards as Sophocle’s did the same with Togedemaru. 

“I told you that we shouldn’t have used glass,” Lance says as he walked over to clean up the shards and keep the children and young adults away. 

“It was the only thing we had on short notice,” Kukui argues.

“Both Augustine, Kiawe, you, and I have Pokémon who can fly so we could’ve quickly gotten it,” Lance says. Burnet came by with a broom and dust pan. 

“You two, cool it. It was three cups, while it’s a lot of glass, it’s not the end of the world,” She says, “Now just make sure no one comes over here until everything is cleaned up and Augustine, can you please go get plastic cups?”

“Yes, of course. Better late than never to have them in case this happens again,” he says before leaving.   
“You two need to be more careful,” Ash says to the two electric types.

“Yeah, someone could’ve gotten hurt,” Sophocles added, frowning at the two. 

“Pika Chu Pi Pikapi,” Pikachu whines in embarrassment and as an apology. 

“Toge Toge,” Togedemaru says softly. 

“It’s okay, no one got hurt but please don’t ever do that again,” Sophocles says as he picks up Togedemaru, “But you two shouldn’t have been roughhousing in the first place.”

“Yeah, you two realized that if the glass shards fell on you, you would’ve gotten seriously hurt,” Ash says as he places Pikachu on his shoulders, “You two need to start staying out of trouble.”

“Pika!” Pikachu nods urgently at his trainer. He whines slightly to Ash and points at Riley. Ahs turns to see the teen extremely tense and his face contorted into something of fear or nervousness, maybe even both.

“Do you want any help Burnet?” Ash asks, not wanting to ditch her if she needs help.

“Nope, don’t worry, Ash. I’ve got it,” Burnet says, “It’s just some broken glass that I can sweep up.”

“Oh.. okay, if you say so,” Ash says before going over to Riley and pulling him away from the large group. The older teen didn’t process what was happening right away but he gave Ash a confused look.

“Ash? Is something wrong?” Riley asks, snapping out of his trance-like state. 

“What’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?” Ash says staring up at him.

“Sol-,” Riley didn’t want to tell him, his problems needed to be his own burden. Ash was the last person who need to worry about it.

“Riley, please! You’re tense up around my dad, you got scared of my uncle, and you were upset by the broken glass! Riley, I’m worried about you and I want to help in some way,”

“I-I,” Riley really couldn’t get out of the conversation now, his voice got caught and died in his throat.

“Riley, what’s wrong?” Ash says, worry leaking from his voice as he looks at Riley with pleading eyes.

“Ash… it’s nothing you should worry-”

“But it is! Something is wrong and you won’t say  _ anything _ ,” Ash says, grabbing Riley’s hands and holding them tightly. He didn’t want to open up and fall apart, not now and definitely not here.

“A-after the party, I’ll tell you… now’s not really not a great time,” Riley says softly. He couldn’t, not now, he’ll upset Ash and the others and put another burden on Ash’s shoulders. That boy had enough as it was, he didn’t need anymore. 

“Fine, but I’m holding you to it, you know,” Ash says. Riley just nods softly, “Riley, I’m not a little kid. You can talk to me, you know.”

“I know, I just don’t want you worrying about me,” Riley says softly. 

“It’s my job to worry about you too. You mean a lot to me, anata no kishi,” Ash says.

“Ash, I know you’re worried and I’m thankful you do, but this isn’t something for you to worry about,” Riley says softly. 

“I’m going to worry about you forever, you know that right?,” Ash says softly, “You mean a lot to me and I want to help in some way.”

Riley gives him a weak smile. He was thankful Ash was worried about him but he still didn’t want to put his personal problems on the boy. “You should probably go back, the others will get suspicious,” Riley says, wanting to end the conversion at hand.

“Yeah, we probably should,” Ash says realizing they’ve been away from the group for some time. He goes back to the party with Riley following behind. Riley was still on edge from everything but it didn’t feel like was suffocating now.

** **

*********   


It was late and most people had left, only a few staying to say their last goodbyes to Ash before they see him again.

Augustine pulled Ash into a tight hug as the two said goodbye, “You’re growing up far too fast, my son, it feels like it was just yesterday that I first held you. You’re only seventeen and you’re already Champion.”

“I’m so proud of you, Ash! I’m glad I was here to see you get to your goal,” Delia says, smiling brightly at Ash. 

Ash smiles and hugs them both, “I couldn’t have done it with yours and my friends support, you know! You guys always believed in me even after all the other leagues,”

“Of course we did! Why wouldn’t we?” Delia says. 

“I know, I’m just happy you did!”

“Ash, Daisuki,” Delia says softly as she hugged him.

“Okaasan, daisuki,” he says.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Ash, it’s getting late. Salut,” Augustine says, giving Ash one last hug for the night. Ash nods and returns the hug and hugs his mom goodbye too before they leave.

“Professor Burnet? Kukui? Do either of you know where Riley is?” Ash asks finding the two in the kitchen cleaning any used dishes. 

“I think he’s outside right now,” Kukui says and raises an eyebrow at Ash, “Is something wrong?”

“I just need to talk to him,” Ash says before leaving the house.

** **

He closed the door behind him as he went outside. Riley was sitting on the beach but he just felt like a smaller version of himself. Ash gave him a worried look as he walked over to him. He walked up to him to see that Riley looked to be lost in thought but almost curled in on himself as he hugged his knees close to his body. 

“Riley?” Ash asks as he sits next to the older teen. He didn’t respond but he didn’t want to bother him either. He hesitated, deciding on whether or not to nudge him, he didn’t want to startle him considering how easily he had been startled or scared today. “Riley, you know I’m here for you, right?” Ash says softly, looking at him with worried eyes.

It seemed like it was that that made Riley snap out of his small trance. He looked at him gave a small nod, “...You said that earlier,” Riley says. His voice sounded as if it was caught in his throat and it felt so soft and small. His hand fell to his side as his posture and body loosened.Ash gave him a small smile as he spoke, just glad that Riley wasn’t shutting him out.

“Tsuki ga kirei desu ne,” Ash says softly as he entangles his hand in Riley’s.

“You said that the night we got together, too,” Riley says softly as Ash leans against him as comfort.

“Mh. Maman says it to papa a lot at home or when it’s really just us around. It’s another way to say, I love you,” Ash says, looking at the moon, “I think it’s just nicer to say it instead of aishiteru.”

Riley’s grip on his hand tightened slightly, “I’m sorry for earlier, I’m sure I upset you,” he says through a cracking voice.

“Don’t, I know you didn’t mean to and I’m not upset with you. I could never be upset with you. I couldn’t truly upset with anyone I’m close to for that matter,” Ash says.

“I… I owe you an explanation, I just can’t seem to find the right words,” he says looking away from Ash.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me right this minute,” Ash says.

“But I should, I shouldn’t lie to you and I can’t keep hiding things from you,” Riley says, his voice getting caught in his throat as he spoke, “I… my father wasn’t a good person. He would ignore me constantly until I did something wrong and… it never ended well, his form of punishment was violent and damaging. It’s why I get jumpy around people and don’t like the sound of shattering glass,” he says, his body starts to shake slightly as he talked. “I-I’d rather not go on...”

Ash just nodded, “I… I understand,” he says and pulls Riley into a hug.

“Let’s… let’s just go back inside, it’s late now and I’m sure the professors don’t us out here much longer,” Riley mutters, wanting to just get out of the conversation as a whole.

“Yeah, of course,” Ash says as he gets up and brushes off any sand. Riley follows suit and walks with him back to the beach house.

“Don’t worry about me too much, I’ll be fine,” Riley says softly.

“Okay, but tell me if something’s bothering you. You shouldn’t have to deal with things by yourself all the time,” Ash says as the enter the house. Burnet and Kukui weren’t there when they got in, meaning they already turned in for the night. Ash tiredly dragged himself up to the loft as Riley went up to grab his pajamas so he could go change. When he came back Ash was sprawled out on the couch. Riley gave him a small smile and walked over to kiss his forehead.

“Stay…” Ash yawns tiredly, grabbing Riley’s hand.

“You’re clingy,” Riley says softly.

“Anone,” Ash says, “Onegai? I want to snuggle.”

Riley gives a small laugh and joins him on the couch, “Of course, my solnyshko.”

Ash smiles at him as he clings tightly to Riley, “Aishiteru, anata no kishi. Oyasuminasai.”

“Ya tozhe lyublyu vas moye solnyshko,” Riley says softly. Ash nods softly, already nearly asleep. The excitement of the day catching up with him completely. Riley hugged him tightly before falling asleep himself.

** **

*********

** **

The peacefulness of sleep did not last long for Ash and Kukui were both awakened due to a nightmare Riley was having.

“Riley! Riley, please get up!” Ash says, trying to wake the crying teen. Riley hard started shifting in his sleep at some point and had started to cry. What had woken Ash up was a sudden tight clutch and a muffled sob. He tried waking him up but failed and when to go get Kukui, hoping he could wake him up from whatever Riley was trapped in. He kept crying for someone to stop and that it hurt.

“Mh, no père! Stop it, it hurts!” Riley cries, his whole body was shaking from fear and pain.

Ash froze when Riley called out père. It was the Kalosian word for father, it was his father that was causing him to cry in pain, “Riley, please wake up. Your father’s not here, you’re safe,” he says softly.

“Père? Father? Ash, what’s wrong?” Kukui says. Why would Ash bring up his father and what did he have to do with Riley’s nightmare?

“Père means father… h-he said last night that his father was violent, I-I shoud’ve said something earlier,” Ash says frowning. Kukui gave the two a worried expression. Ash couldn’t have known he’d get nightmares from it and Riley was currently in one and refusing to respond.

“Riley, c’mon kid, you need to wake up,” Kukui says, jostling him to try and wake him. It was one last shake that made Riley shoot up. 

He woke up with a piercing scream and was panting heavily. He was trying to catch his breath as tears fell freely from his face.“I-I.. W-wha-” he was dazed and confused as he looked around, trying to ground himself. He was dripping with sweat and couldn’t make out what just happened. Nothing felt real right now to him and just Ash being there made it feel like an illusion.

“Calm down, Riley. You’re okay, you’re safe,” Kukui says, rubbing his back gently as a means to calm him down. “How are you holding up? You seemed to be having a hellish nightmare.” 

Riley just nodded softly, shaking as he tried to calm down, “I-it was about him… it was everything he’s said and done to me,” riley says, his voice cracking, “Everything was just a mess though… I was hearing yelling and crying and my whole body hurt as things spun.”

“Riley… you’re safe, no one can hurt you. Whoever “He” is, he can’t hurt you,” Kukui says.

“Riley, no one’s going to hurt you. We’re all here for you,” Ash says softly, grabbing Riley’s hand and clasping his own around it.

“B-but he can! You’re dad could force me back to Kalos in a heartbeat if he recognizes me and my father will just hurt me and yell at me more!” Riley says, starting to fall apart.

“Riley, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“I’m not from Sinnoh and I’m not even supposed to be there! I ran away from home, all my father did was hit and yell at me!” Riley says, “I only stood it till I was twelve, it all became too much so I fled. H-he would beat, yell, and shove me… while complaining that I-I w-was nothing more than some useless ch-child and a waste of breath. H-he didn’t care if I had bruises all over, if I did he’d keep me home or tell to me cover up c-completely and if someone said a-anything about it he’d just tell them I-I was roughhousing and j-just got hurt.”

Ash wasn’t sure what to do at that moment in time but grip Riley’s hand tighter. He saw how he started to sob and let go, opting to wrapping his arms around Riley. Riley was taken back when the teen pulled him into the hug but it didn’t make him hold back anything, if anything it just made the tears fall more. It’s been years since he’s broken down like this, a sobbing mess over the memories that the sound of broken glass and the feeling of stress brought. Byron was the one person who had been able to keep him grounded when he got like this. He was everything his own father wasn’t and more, it’s what Riley needed when he was upset.

“Riley…” Ash looked at him worriedly, unsure of what to do. He’s never seen him so upset and it felt like it was his fault for this, “I’m so sorry, Riley. I never should’ve brought it, I shouldn’t have made you answer me.” Riley didn’t answer, his body shook as he cried. Ash moved to sit in front of him and pulled him into a tighter hug.

“I-I’m s-so s-sorry,” Riley choked out, tears causing his voice to get stuck as he shook, “I-I sh-shouldn’t have told you. Y-you sh-shouldn’t have t-to deal w-with my p-problems! I-I’m s-sorry if you h-hate me...”

“Riley, kuso! I love you and you don’t need to apologize, you don’t need to ever need to apologize for something like this!” Ash exclaims. He keeps Riley in a tight hold as he cried. 

“Ya lyublyu vas, ya lyublyu vas vsem verdtsem,” he chokes out as he clung tightly to Ash, “ _ Please _ don’t leave me.”. Ash let him cry, letting him cry out whatever he needed to. Riley’s tears started to lessen and he started to calm down somewhat.

“Aishiteru,” Ash says softly as he holds Riley, “I’m not leaving you, Riley, don’t ever think that I will.” Riley just nods softly. He was the older of the two by a year and a half but right now he felt like a child, clinging to Ash and crying like he had. There was suddenly two strong arms holding the both of them. It was as strong or as grounding as Byron’s but it was still stronger than Ash’s or Roark’s.

“Riley, it’s okay, I’m here for you,” Kukui says, holding the teen close, “Everyone here isn’t going to leave you or harm you.” He removes his arm from Ash to wipe away Riley’s tears. “I’m sure that if you explain to Augustine on what’s wrong, he’ll listen. He’s an understanding man and won’t let people get hurt knowingly,” Kukui says.

“But-” riley starts but is cut off. He’s doubtful that the Kalosian Professor would listen to him, even if he was Professor Sycamore’s son’s boyfriend.   
“Riley, my dad will listen,” Ash says, two thoughts a head, “If he wasn’t going to, I doubt I’d be here right now. There have been so many times were he wanted to pull me out of my journey because of everything that happened or is going on.”

“But this is different! It’s not like you’re going to sent back to someone who just constantly left you bruised and scarred with no care of if you died or not! Ash, I’m scared! I don’t want to go back!” Riley yells, starting to cry again.   
“Deep breaths, Riley. Breath in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and breath out for four seconds,” Kukui says softly. Riley listens hesitantly as he tries to calm down, “Yeah, just like that, kiddo, you’re doing great. You just need to calm down.”   
Riley continues for a minute before speaking again, “What if he doesn’t listen?”    
“Then I’ll talk to him and beat some sense into him if necessary,” Kukui says, “Sorry Ash, but I will.”   
“No, I get it. I’m sure my mom would help with both too,” Ash says.

Kukui gives a small laugh at the boy’s response. For some reason it doesn’t surprise him but he knows Augustine will listen and help. “You two go downstairs and I’ll start on breakfast. If you want, I’ll grab a blanket for you two also and you can hang out on the downstairs couch.”

“That’d be great, Professor. Thank you!” Ash says. Riley just nods softly. Kukui hugs them both tightly before climbing down from the loft to call Augustine and make the four at the home breakfast. 

** **

Burnet was already in the kitchen making coffee, “How are the boys? Ash looked pretty worried earlier.” she says as Kukui walked by.

“Riley was having a nightmare and I now, long story short, want to murder his father and I’m going to call Augustine to go over something with him,” Kukui says, “I feel bad for the kid, he doesn’t deserve any of the pain he’s had to go through.”   
“What’s wrong?” Burnet says walking over and wrapping her arms around his waist.   
“The kid’s dad abused him and he’s physically and mentally scarred from it,” he says softly, “That’s why he was having such a bad nightmare and why he’s so upset. I have to talk to Augustine about it since Riley’s from originally from Kalos so there’s some legal things to deal with. Not to mention, we’ll have to take this stuff to court too so we can get him out of that monster’s custody.

“You care a lot about him, don’t you,” she says.   
“Who wouldn’t? He’s not okay which probably explains everything from yesterday,” he says, “He really should not go back and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t.”

“I know and I’ll help if you need me to,” she says and kisses his cheek, “You’re like a mother Khangaskan, you know.”

Kukui gave a small laugh, “Is that so? I thought the Oak Kid and Colress agreed that it was Augustine who’s the Mother Kangaskhan?”

“You two both are, you’re both protective of those you deem as your children,” Burnet says with a small laugh.

“Maybe so. I’ll be right back, I’m going to get a blanket for the two so they can lay down on the couch down here,” Kukui says before giving his wife a kiss and leaving to the linen closet.

“Of course, sweetie,” she says, letting Kukui go.

** **

Kukui comes back with a blanket for the two teens and saw them cuddling on the couch. Riley was leaning against Ash tiredly as he combed his fingers through Riley’s hair, getting out any large tangles.   
“Comfortable?” Kukui asks, raising an eyebrow at the duo. Ash was at least five inches shorter yet it was Riley who was curled up by him like a Litten.

“Very,” Riley mumbles. It’s barely audible but that was fine.

“Well that’s good, I’ve got a blanket for you two,” he says and drapes on them which they’re both perfectly fine with. “I’m gonna go call up your dad now and talk to him about this stuff and go make breakfast, got it?”

“Okay professor,” Ash says, only half paying attention at this point. Kukui just nodded before heading back into the kitchen.

** **

Over the course of an hour and a half, Augustine had been called, they had eaten breakfast, and the two teens had fallen asleep on the couch. Kukui was waiting in the dining room working on paperwork for the league as he waited for Augustine. The doorbell rang, alerting Kukui and Burnet.

“In a minute!” Kukui says as he puts down the pen and paper to head to the door.

The minute he got there he was greeted by Augustine, “You said you need to talk? Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, come inside and we can talk,’ Kukui says, letting the other man in, “It’s about Riley. I’m sure you know that he was jumpy and on edge constantly last night?”

“It was hard to ignore, why do you ask?” Augustine asks. He knew there was something off but he didn’t want to pester him in case it was nothing.

“Augustine, the kid came from an abusive household and according to him, he’s from Kalos. The reason he was like that last night was because of the fact he was worried that if you recognized him, you’d send him back,” Kukui says, “Augustine, you can’t make this kid go back to Kalos to his father. The kid broke down this morning because he had a nightmare about what the shithead put him through.”

“Didn’t he say that he was from Sinnoh?” Augustine says, becoming tense and worried. If he really was a run away, why hadn’t anyone say anything? No friend, other family members, or neighbors said anything about him suddenly going missing? “And there’s never been a single missing person report from Lumiose or at least for a child. It doesn’t make sense for anyone to not say anything.”

“I know, but if his father really didn’t care about him, I doubt he’d even bother reporting him missing. Augustine, you really can’t make this kid go back,” Kukui says sternly.

“I know and I won’t. I can ask him about who his father is later, he can easily be charged with child abuse and most likely even child neglect. There’s most likely going to be a lot of legal trouble with this though,” Augustine says.

“Thank you, Augustine,” Kukui says giving the older man a small smile.

“Considering him and my son are dating along with how much you care about him, of course I’d help,” he says, giving him a small smile, “I can see you care about him like your son, I can see that you feel that way about your students too.”

“Am I really that obvious and no, don’t worry, that’s all,” Kukui says.

“I get told I’m like that my wife and Aurea a lot. They aren’t wrong either, Sophie’s like a sister and Alain’s practically my second son,” Augustine says, shrugging, “I know I didn’t like it when the old coot Mongolia shamed Ash for not following in my footsteps and said Alain needs to stick to one job and not doing whatever he pleases.”

Kukui snorts at that, “I’m surprised you didn’t fight her.”

“We were in a meeting and she was immediately told down by Oak and Rowan. It was tempting though,” he says, “Where are the two by the way?”

“One the couch sleeping. Riley had a rough night so I’ll allow it, not to mention, I can keep an eye on them better down here in case something like last night happens again,” Kukui says. The two needed sleep, especially Riley. They were up until midnight and Riley got a restless sleep, so it was given the two were still utterly tired. 

“Alright, a plus tard,” Augustine says, “We’ll have to go over work of the league like Elites and set up later.”   
“Got it, I’ll call you when their up and Ash is read to start going through that stuff,” Kukui says waving goodbye to him. “Alola, Augustine.”

Augustine nodded before leaving. Leaving the two Professors and teens be for the next few hours. He would make sure Riley didn’t have to deal with the man anymore and make sure he was in better, safer, company.


End file.
